The Philosophy

And a definition of ‘honest adventure photography’

We begin with the premise that the presence of social media and digital imagery has forever changed both the nature of and the market for outdoor adventure photography. Any lines between fashion, landscape, product, and journalism have become so blurry they might not even exist.

And as we navigate the saturated image markets of our time, we believe the only way to stand out is to find the truth in our lens. To bite just a piece of the honesty and the intimacy in the lives of the adventurers and the scoundrels from across the world. To capture some beautiful moment in time, naked and pure, and to invite the masses to come and see what we’ve done.

Honest adventure photography.

These aren’t just words to us. It’s our lifestyle. It’s our art. We live it and breathe it and think it and dream it, and we’ve anchored our philosophy to the five pillars we believe show themselves in our finished products:

grit

Coarseness discovered and captured outside of comfort, security, and monotony which ultimately breeds strength in character.

Honest adventure is a beast, vulgar and raw. The rain and the snow, the heat and the cold, the wind and the hail will come, agnostic to our photographic endeavors.

However, we find the willpower to capture uncomfortable experiences.

Moments of beauty beckon every traveller to his or her camera. Just look to the picture on your aunt’s iPhone of your tee-shirt-wearing uncle standing, hands in pockets, in front of the magnificent, breathtaking palace at Versailles for evidence. But far fewer are the folks who look through the lens in moments of exhaustion or tediousness, or downright pain. Who look through the lens in these moments and find the truth. No poses. No guards. Nobody saying “cheese”. Just a real shot of life and those who live it.

When our fingers sting from the cold, when the rain blows sideways, when sweat drenches our shirts and we’re heaving for air, we’ll grab our cameras. This is it. This is the moment.

Sponteneity

A flight of impulse with no prior meditation.

Sure we plan our trips, but rules are meant to be broken. To take off down a dirt road missing from the map with a crew of friends and cooler of beer inspires the type of adventure that can’t be sought out.

Honest adventure isn’t always serious. It’s about freedom. It’s about curiosity and exploration. It’s about challenging yourself to veer from the path.

This is what we want from our lives; we want to go new places and see new things. We want to find ourselves in surroundings we didn’t expect. Fresh perspective is the lifeblood of creativity, and sometimes you find it just by following the moment. Just by letting the trail take you and your camera where it will.

We’re out here, first and foremost, for the adventure. If we don’t let it lead us, then we’re doing it wrong.

audacity

A middle finger to the status quo.

This goes deeper than being unique. It’s about learning to listen more closely to the hum of your own instincts, preferences, and impulses. And then rolling the windows down, turning that knob to eleven, and blasting it out to the world.

To build something great takes audacity. It’s audacious to think that you can provide great branding through adventure photography. Where are the props, the models, the stages, the artificial lights? There’s got to be a reason photo shoots have always been done this way. Right?

Steve Jobs once said, “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again.”

Well, we learned that on our first trip. And we’ve never been the same.

We believe in our work. We believe that real adventure will bring real adventure photographs that can’t be mimicked by models in poses. And we’ve bet the house that when you see our images, you’ll believe it, too.

Because we dare to go there as individuals and as a company, we can bring you and your brand something original and honest and beautiful and real, and there’s no substitute for that.

So what do you say? Let’s do this.

idealism

Belief and adherence to core principles, both in word and action.

Are we crazy? Maybe. Naive? Probably.

Dreamers? Definitely.

But we are also believers. We believe that passion and dedication and hard work are the keys to living exactly the life we love, and we won’t compromise.

For us, this means spending more days on the road than in our apartments or homes. It means cultivating awesome connections with complete strangers or getting stoked on a good wave. It means catching a huge rainbow trout.

And every day, every single day, we chase this vision. We welcome and embrace setbacks because in our hearts, we know we won’t stop.

We’ll just get better.

Dependability

Excellence. On time. Every time.

We tell you this: you can count on us. We will deliver you the content we promised by the date agreed upon. Guaranteed.

Everyone understands that a picture is worth a thousand words. But no matter how great our images are, they aren’t worth anything to you until they are in your hands, and we know this, and we’ll stake our reputation on our ability to deliver.

We know who we are. We know what we can do. And we will get you your content.

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We understand that a healthy environment is not only necessary for the sports and lifestyle we love, but also for the well-being of all forms of life on our planet. As a member of 1% for the Planet we donate at least 1% of our annual sales to grass-roots organizations that protect the planet and raise awareness of ocean and environmental issues.